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Fragment number Vinzent 3
Klostermann 43
Rettb. 37
Ancient source used Eusebius, Against Marcellus 1.2
Modern edition M. Vinzent, Markell von Ankyra: Die Fragmente (Leiden, 1997).
Translator’s Note Basically, Marcellus is arguing that “Logos” is the original name and title of the one who is normally referred to as “Jesus Christ,” and that other names such as “Jesus,” “Christ,” “the way,” “the life,” “the bread,” “the door,” etc., were added to him only when he assumed human form. Marcellus makes his argument from the opening of John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Logos” (1.1). Since this Divine Person is called the Logos from the very beginning, “Logos” is his first and therefore preeminent title. All other names are merely temporary; they apply only to the Logos’s “human dispensation,” which lasts as long as the current age. Once this dispensation has ended, all names except “Logos” will cease to be used in eternity.

Therefore it is clear in every way that no other name is suitable for the eternity of the Word than that which the holiest disciple of the Lord, the Apostle John, used at the beginning of his Gospel. For since it was after the assumption of the flesh that he was proclaimed as both “Christ” and “Jesus,” and also “Life” and “Way” (Jn 14:6) and “Day” and “Resurrection” (Jn 11:5) and “Gate” (10:7,9) and “Bread” (6:35,48,51) or whatever other name the Divine Scriptures call him, at the same time we should not forget that his first name was “Word.” For this reason the most holy evangelist and disciple of the Lord, greatly awakened by the Spirit, does not call to mind a more recent name, but the original one, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). He said this to show that if there is any new or more recent name, it arose from the dispensation of the flesh new and recent to him.

Translated by Daniel Noonan under the supervision of Prof. Glen L. Thompson, revised AMJ

Last updated: 8-29-2012

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